The Puffer Forum

I wouldn't go for burping unless it seems like his body (tail end, usually) is tugging him upwards constantly and he's having trouble swimming down, not just swimming in general. It's hard to explain, but there's a definite look to it.

Glass cleaner makes fumes, and those could have gotten in. I don't spray anything on the same end of the room as my tank, and then only rarely.

Those signs seem similar to nitrate poisoning that Dadof4 posted about a while back.

Nitrite. But I agree - that came to mind for me too.

He's not much better... what made me wonder if it was air trapped is because for the most part, he's nose down with tail towards the top, and he rolls alot. He's not breathing heavy, as I thought might be the case if the nitrites were getting to him.
Anyway, should I continue with adding table salt? The nitrite reading is down to "0" now, and same with ammonia.

Not all symptoms of a disease or sickness show up all the time or at the same time. He could be disoriented but not showing signs of low oxygen.

Why are you adding table salt?

Yeah, I'm confused about the table salt too. What's the pH? Does it remain stable?

Oh maybe I got confused .... I read that thread about the nitrite poisoning and I thought someone suggested adding table salt to help. I only added it last night, haven't added any today.
He's mostly nose pointed down at the gravel, tail towards the top of the tank and he is sort of "twirling". He was still eating yesterday, but I am not sure if he ate any today. Yesterday he was still swimming normally from time to time, but he seems to be less in control today and I would say he's looking worse. The tank is still testing at "0" for nitrite and ammonia. I gently held him earlier and rubbed his belly lightly. He was very calm and allowed me to do this, but it didn't seem to help any. He doesn't seem to have much control over where he goes or what he's doing, and it's very distressing to watch him because I don't know what to do for him.
If the tank is no longer showing any nitrite or ammonia spikes, what should I do for him? Or what can I do for him?

Adding salt only makes a difference if there isn't any salt already.

I would keep the lights very low and the room quiet.

I'd try burping him by holding him by the tail, head up, underwater & shake.

Can you describe the "rolling"?

He's mostly nose-down but when he tries to swim now, he just rolls -- like going over and over, but mostly it's head towards the substrate, tail up. I keep thinking he's dead because he will stay nose down, tail up, in the same position for a few minutes at a time.

I actually tried to burp him earlier. I held him head up, tail down, gently rubbing his belly and then giving him a gentle shake. I did it long enough to give him time to burp ... but nothing happened.
If I tried it earlier, how often should I keep trying to do that? I don't want to stress him, but I also want to help him if possible. The odd part is that his belly has remained white throughout this ordeal.

(Got it with the salt now ..... and I admit, sick puffers is not my strong point, something I need to get better at, but hoping my own puffers won't get sick too often).

Head-over-tail somersaulting or barrel rolls?

More like barrel rolls

That... doesn't sound like trapped air to me. Trapped air doesn't really result in rolling of any kind, IME. I wouldn't put him through the extra stress of handling and burping. I'd put a really strong baffle on the filter, though.

Uno died last night.

I didn't do any more burping because I felt I would just stress him. I really did feel so sad because I didn't know what to do to help him. Thing is, I'm not beyond admitting any mistakes I might have made, but I've had fish in a tank with high nitrites and I've never seen any behave as he was. That's the only thing that has me confused. I just think there was something else going on, but I've no idea what.

So now I have an empty brackish tank. Should I keep it brackish or should I turn it back to a freshwater tank? How hard would that be? I've done it before, but I pretty much took everything out of the tank and put new stuff in. This time I'd like to leave the gravel and decorations. The SG in that tank isn't that high (1.010) .... so could I just change things back to fresh or better to keep it brackish since the filters are already matured?

aww sorry to hear about Uno suzanne
sometimes by the time its clear theres something wrong, they are too far gone
we can only do the best we can.

Oh no, sorry to hear that Suzanne. You did your best for him. He would have died a long while ago if you had not have had him (only you would pick out a fish with one eye! )- at least he had a chance with you. RIP little guy.